Emergency room visits for overdoses skyrocketing in Delaware, Pennsylvania

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Emergency department visits for opioid overdoses are up nationwide, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. They increased by 81 percent last year in Pennsylvania and by 105 percent in Delaware, the second-highest level in the nation.

In Delaware, ERs reported 596 opioid-related overdose visits in the third quarter of 2017 — more than double the number during the same period of 2016.

“The report’s findings highlight the need for enhanced prevention and treatment efforts” in emergency departments, Dr. Karyl Rattay, Delaware Division of Public Health director, said in a statement.

“Offering overdose prevention education, naloxone and related training for patients, family members, and friends; initiating buprenorphine in the ED; and linking patients to treatment and services in the community as needed,” she recommended.

Emergency departments have been the first line of defense when it comes to opioid overdoses for a long time, but they haven’t always had the resources to respond with treatment beyond just helping patients recover and sending them on their way. It’s time to offer more, said Dr. Jeanne Marie Peronne at the University of Pennsylvania Emergency Department.

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“We have to do something different,” she said. “We have to be able to reach them where they are.”

Click here for the full story from WHYY.

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